Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been dealt a blow in his campaign to form the next government and remain Prime Minister with a majority of Members of Knesset (MK) preparing a bill that would prevent indicted MKs from forming a government.
Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu party, announced on Thursday that he would be supporting the move, tabled by the Blue and White party, giving the bill a majority of 62 MKs outside of Netanyahu’s right-wing-bloc. With 120 seats in the Knesset, 61 MKs are needed for the move to succeed.
Addressing MKs from his right-wing bloc, Netanyahu called the move an effort to “divide the nation” in times it is facing “serious challenges like the coronavirus” and provided with “opportunities like US President Donald Trump’s plan” that required the nation to be “united and respect the will of the people.”
In a non-public meeting after his announcement, Netanyahu reportedly said that Gantz was worse than Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stating that “in Iran, they disqualify candidates before their elections, but here Gantz is doing it after an election despite the results.”
While the move would appear to be an immediate victory for Blue and White Prime Ministerial candidate Benny Gantz, it could easily backfire. With Netanyahu barred from becoming Prime Minister, Liberman and his Yisrael Beitenu party would likely join a Likud-led right-wing government as Netanyahu is seen as a personal issue by Liberman in forming a government.
The law proposal is seen as a long-shot and is unlikely to pass, as the Knesset is currently unable to pass laws tabled by individual MKs before it is sworn in on March 16th.
Similarly, Blue and White would have to be tasked with forming a government to be able to lead such a move, which could potentially take weeks to pass.
Israel’s Attorney General Attorney Avichai Mendelblit submitted an indictment against Netanyahu to the Secretariat of the Jerusalem District Court in January shortly after Netanyahu announced he was withdrawing his request for parliamentary immunity from the Knesset.
Mendelblit stated that he filed the indictment in cases 1000, 2000 and 4000 in which Netanyahu is accused of bribery and corruption.
The move to stop Netanyahu from forming a government is as dispicable as it is a threat to democracy.
If Neanyahu is convicted, then clearly he has no place in the Knesset. But taking action against him before he is convicted violates every notion of justice. It is not merely guilty until proven innocent, but being punished before he is tried.
It would also be a dangerous precedent. Anyone who has the ear of the Attorney-General could be indicted and the electorate could be spurned.
Time for the outgoing PM to go. He should now await his corruption trial. Also he has been PM for to long and has passed his political use by date too.